Whenever singer Joss Stone needs help she turns to Sunday Times war photographer Paul Conroy. He tells how she supports him, even camping by his bed as he lay wounded

Joss Stone turned to Conroy when two men, Kevin Liverpool and Junior Bradshaw, plotted to behead her (The Sunday Times)

I arrived at Joss Stone’s house one summer afternoon two years ago to find a
scrum of police and photographers blocking the driveway. Gone was the
tranquil silence she loves to be replaced with what looked like a badly shot
scene from The Bill.

Two men had been arrested in a lane nearby after the police were tipped off by
neighbours who had seen them acting strangely. Junior Bradshaw, 32, and
Kevin Liverpool, 35, had apparently intended to rob and kidnap Joss and
behead her with a samurai sword. Their car was packed with balaclavas,
knives, hammers, a metal spike and a garden hose.

She had called me, perfectly calm, and said: “I’m all right, do you fancy
popping up for a cuppa?”

Despite the obvious seriousness of what had happened, by the time I got there
she was smiling — but baffled at what the hell had gone on.